It had been three weeks since Rory's confession to Lorelai about her feelings for Jess. She had come no closer to tell him then she had a few weeks ago. She and Lorelai were sitting at the counter waiting to be served.

"How do you think Luke does it?" Lorelai said, twirling a curly fry in her fingers. Rory looked up from her book.

"How does he do what?"

"You know, make these fries curly." Rory rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Why don't you just eat them, and stop thinking."

"Well I want to know! I mean it's so ingenious!" Soon Luke came out from the kitchen.

"What are you yelling about in here?" he said grumpily.

"Lukey, how do you get your curly fries curly?" She said with a pout.

"Ah geez, could you not call me that. And for your information, you'll never find out," he said smugly.

"Luke who are you kidding? I could think of a million means of persuasion," she said batting her eye lashes.

"Well then you better get to work because I will never tell you my secrets." He watched as Lorelai and Rory started giggling.

"Luke that so called for a dirty!" Rory laughed even harder and soon he just left them to take care of his other customers. Rory heard the bell ring, and smiled when she saw Jess come in.

"Hey Luke, sorry I'm late," he apologized while grabbing an apron and I pot of coffee.

"No big deal, just get to work," he mumbled before going back into the kitchen.

"Hey Ror, coffee?" He offered, already pouring before she answered. She gave him a look. "What?"

"What if I had just said no right now?"

"Give me a break, you would never turn down coffee," he teased.

"He's got a point," Lorelai butted in. "By the way, get me some too please!" He laughed as he filled up her cup a well. The tables were turned however as Ms. Patty walked in asking him to get his cute tush over to her. Both girls were hysterical as he walked over with a scowl on his face.

"Anything else I can get you? Maybe a nice trip to the mental hospital or possibly a straight jacket?" Luke asked as he gave them their check.

"Luke, would you seriously put your girlfriend in a mental hospital?"

"Well, I would come visit you," he joked.

"Ah! I am shocked! Luke, my love, why do you do this to me!" He rolled his eyes.

"Just take this to-go cup, and consider it on the house," he said leaning close to her." She smiled, completely forgetting about his teasing.

"Ok, I will see you tonight for Saturday movie night at the movies, correct?"

"I'll pick you up at your place," he confirmed.

"Ok bye sweets!" She said to Rory. After quickly kissing Luke, she went to the Inn. Luke went back to work. Jess came over and sat in Lorelai's vacated seat.

"So, after work you busy?" Rory asked absentmindedly.

"Well, actually I'm going out with Tracy today, but I can come over later if you want." Rory's stomach dropped.

Tracy. She hated that name. Two days after the disagreement Jess had given her a call, and suddenly she was no longer the leggy blonde…she was Tracy. She had met her once, and already knew that she was nothing worth taking a second glance at. Jess had been real careful about not breaking plans with Rory to hang with Tracy, but lately he was getting careless. If Rory didn't call him to make plans, he would just assume it was okay to go off with her. The only hard part was being supportive. She tried to smile when he brought her up, and even ask about her when they were together. It was just easier to fake being nice than to fight all the time about him seeing her. Today however, her smile faltered a bit. It was getting more serious between them which meant he was with her more and more.

"Oh…well that's ok, I've got some school work to finish up anyway," she said waving it off as nothing.

"On a Saturday? You can hang with us if you want," he offered. She almost scoffed at the idea.

"No thanks, the idea of being the third wheel isn't that appetizing. And plus the last thing I need to witness is you and her playing tonsil hockey," she said while taking a sip of her coffee. He gave her a look.

"Well if you insist. Look, I've got to get back to work before Luke rips my head off. I'll call you?" She nodded and when he left she frowned. After finishing her coffee, she left some money and slowly walked to the bridge. At least no one would go there.

"So any luck with the Rory and Jess situation?" Sookie asked when Lorelai came in for coffee.

"Unfortunately no. I mean she's so stubborn! And now it's even more complicated because he's dating someone." Sookie gasped.

"Wow Rory must have taken that hard." Lorelai shook her head.

"I know this is crazy, but Rory tries not to get bent out of shape about it. I mean yea she's not their number one fan, but she's trying to be supportive." Sookie nodded.

"I think if she told him that she loved him, he would drop that girl like a hot potato!" Sookie yelled. Lorelai laughed.

"If only I could convince her of that. Well, I better get back out there before Michel kills someone," She said.

"Yes I don't think he'd do well in prison," Sookie agreed as she got back to making the guest breakfast.

Rory had been at the bridge for a few hours. Her back ached, and she had finished her book. She sat up with her legs dangling over the edge. The water had warmed up thanks to the late April sun. She took off her shoes, letting her toes lightly splash in the water. She let out a breath when she heard murmured noises coming from the woods. She lifted her head to try and listen more carefully, but she couldn't her any distinct words. She quickly looked around, afraid someone was watching her.

Suddenly Jess came through a group of trees...with her. They were both laughing, but Rory was fuming. What was his problem? Taking that girl to their bridge? It was bad enough they hung out everywhere else, why did he have to bring her here? Rory clenched her fists. When they saw her, both of them sobered up.

"Hi Rory," he said uneasily. She looked pissed.

"Hi? That's all you have to say to me? What the hell do you think you're doing?" She was getting loud, but she didn't care. Tracy looked very uncomfortable.

"Jess I'm uh…I'm gonna go," she said wearily.

"Tracy you don't have to go. Stay." She looked unsure but stayed by his side. "Rory, what in the world is wrong with you?

"No, what is wrong with you! I can't believe you would do this to me!"

"I haven't done anything!"

"Yes! You brought her to our bridge! Jess this was supposed to be our place and here you are parading it around to this…girl!" Tracy once again tried to leave but Jess held her hand.

"Rory please, it's not like it's a private location! Anyone can come here!"

"Why don't you understand? The two of you prance around everywhere in this town! This is the one place I thought I could get away from it all! But no, you have to now take over the whole town. Why don't you just use my couch, huh?"

"Rory first of all, we're not prancing around okay? Second of all it's not your bridge! This is a public bridge! We can come here if we want to!"

"That's bull and you know it. You told me that this was our place. And by the way, have you ever seen anyone else here? It's because it's a secret!" Tears were starting to form at the corners of her eyes. "You bringing her here shows me that it means nothing to you…and neither do I." A few tears ran down her face and she hastily wiped them away.

"Rory I can't deal with this right now. You need to calm down before you say something stupid. We're leaving, but this isn't over." He turned to Tracy and they both walked away. Rory, still angry, grabbed her book and headed home. This was the last straw. Tonight she was gonna tell him they needed to talk. For now though, she walked home, took a nice warm shower, and went to sleep.

"Rory?" A voice whispered in her ear. She tried to hold on to her sleep, but eventually the voice pulled her out of it. "Rory? You awake?" She stirred and noticed it was her mom.

"Mom? What time is it?" She asked looking around. She looked out the window and saw that it was almost completely dark outside.

"It's a little after seven…you slept a good eight hours. Are you feeling ok?" Rory jumped up.

"Yea um…Jess didn't come by did he?" she asked.

"Actually he did. He told me to tell you that he needed to talk to you."

"Oh my god, did he say where he'd be?"

"Um yea, he said to meet at the bridge. Rory, is everything okay?" Lorelai was concerned.

"Yea it will be. I've got to go, I won't be late!" She yelled, almost out the door. Lorelai just watched her leave, completely confused.

Rory walked slowly down the familiar path to the bridge. When she got close enough, she saw Jess hunched over, looking pretty upset. She tentatively walked onto the bridge and sat next to him. He didn't even acknowledge her presence, but instead just spoke to her.

"Tracy broke up with me." He snapped. Rory bit her lip.

"I'm…I'm sorry Jess." He let out a bitter chuckle.

"Come on Rory, we both know that you're not. You don't have to lie."

"Why did she do it?" She knew it was a stupid question. Jess surprised her by standing up, pacing back and forth. After a moment, she rose to her feet as well.

"Maybe it's because my supposed best friend is a fuckin lunatic! I mean what the hell happened to you Rory? I can't even explain how upset I am with you," he said harshly.

"Jess this isn't my entire fault! You're the one who brought her to this bridge! You know how important it is to me and yet you just thought about yourself!"

"No I thought you were going back to your house to study like you told me!"

"Oh that's much better! You were going to lie to me!" Jess turned away from her, running both hands through his hair.

"I can't do this Rory. I can't be friend with you if this is what's gonna happen when ever I date someone. I just can't deal with the shit you throw at me!" Rory crossed her arms in front of her. The words won't come out, just say it! She needed to tell him now. "Bye Rory." He turned and started walking away. She needed to say something.

"N….No!" She shouted out quickly. He turned to look at her. "Why do you get to decide if we're friends or not? Don't I get a say? Don't you even want to know why Tracy bothered me so much?"

"Because you want to make my life miserable?" he said sarcastically.

"No! It's because when you're with her or anyone else for that matter it makes me miserable! Maybe 'just friends' isn't good enough for me anymore! I've been keeping this from you for along time, but I'm just gonna say it! I. Love. You. Okay? Not in the you're my best friend way, but the pretend to like Hemmingway, let you drink the last cup of coffee way that drives me insane! I just…I didn't want you to say that you didn't love me because if you don't-"

She was startled when he cut her off, not with his words, but with his lips crashing into hers. He backed her up so that she was firmly against a tree. She reciprocated with just as much vehemence. He put his arms around her waist, and hers went around his neck. It was full of emotions; anger, frustration, love. She pulled him as close to her as she possibly could, and pretended that the moment never had to end.